KEN

The story of KEN is easily told. The fact that a few musicians locked themselves away for a couple of days to see what would happen is nothing new, though it is extremely effective. The important thing is finding the right chemistry between an array of musicians that can spur the others on to different and better things.

Following a number of experiments and recordings with a number of musicians, the band finally settled in its first line-up of Michael Fritsche, Oliver Lauxen, Guido Lucas and Oliver Fries. Kurt Ebelhuser dropped by during the 10-day recording sessions and played his part in writing two other tracks, Swell and Husk, which were immediately added to the final 14 recordings. Both songs were created within minutes and easily found their way onto the debut album, Have a Nice Day, which was released in June of 2002. After just two concerts, Oliver Lauxen threw in the towel. He had previously been on a few tours with Scumbucket and was basically sick of touring. Michael, now a father of four, also had difficulty in being able to tour for any duration. He too was subsequently replaced by tour drummer Markus Krieg.

Following a few festivals in 2002, KEN went on the Hurricane/Southside club tour throughout the month of October. Everyone who was present would agree that the whole tour was badly planned. The result saw four totally unknown and partly incapable bands playing larger-than-life venues without the necessary crowds to support them. The memories of this tour are somewhat vague, although the band admits that they still enjoyed it as one of the best tours of their musical career.

After a lot of back-and-forth, the band finally got around to recording their next album in 2004. They rehearsed and recorded a number of cover versions to see which musicians would fit the mold for the future band line-up. During the course of the year they recorded about 16 cover versions some of which can truly be classified as BAD COVER VERSIONS! However, a number of the cover versions really grew on them. Since the joint release of their last regular album and the cover album, KEN has often looked back and wondered whether it was the right decision to release them both at once. They believe that should be left up to the listener. It is their viewpoint that it was important for them to portray their own musical upbringing.

At the end of 2004 they were ready to start working on a proper album. This time the line-up consisted of Guido Lucas, Oliver Fries, Georg Brenner, Marcel von der Weiden and Jens Kchenthal. Once again, they locked themselves away for 10 days to see what would emerge from that session. Their hopes of avoiding to write another rock album were dashed within the first chords of the initial jam session but to be honest, they were the wrong musicians to ever dream of achieving that. In a way, the musicians basically picked themselves for the album they just seemed to click effortlessly. KEN could never have dreamed of the creative output in the few days they rehearsed. They basically wrote the whole album in just five days and were able to go straight into the production phase.

After hearing their demo, Metropolis Records jumped at the chance to release KEN in North America. Their label debut, Stop! Look! Sing Songs of Revolutions!, merges indie rock with brit pop to create a well balanced and polished album. Throughout the album, various influences can be heard ranging from the top 40 pop sensibilities of the Beatles to the experimentalism of Pink Floyd and The Jesus and Mary Chain. KENs Stop! Look! Sing Songs of Revolutions! is one album not to be overlooked!